Okay, this report was supposed to come out on Sunday the 5th of Jan. But at the last minute I decided to take some R&R to recover a bit from the spring of special outreaches. I’m back on deck now and so let me update you with how the outreaches for Dec 2024 went.
But first, I just want to take a moment to remember Stephen Ripley, who sadly passed from this earth on the 16th of December. Stephen and his wife Margaret regularly joined us for the abortion/gospel outreach we used to run outside the hospital. It was an honour to be able to serve next to Stephen, and am looking forward to seeing him again when I join him in graduation to heaven! My condolences to Margaret & family at this time.
So, I can’t really remember the details of my gospel conversations during December. So, I’m going to let the pictures I dredged up do most of the talking instead.
We had one special outreach. It was the boxing day gospel tract outreach. It was great to have Martin from Hamilton with me again. He is usually in Christchurch for holidays around this time of year. Between us we were able to hand out about 3 to 4 hundred Christmas tracts in 2 x 2 hour outreaches: Riccarton in the morning, and in the city in the afternoon. It was pouring with rain in the afternoon, but that didn’t stop the people out bargain hunting - and getting a bargain they didn’t expect too: the gospel! Even though the focus was on distributing tracts, I still had many gospel conversations too.
Well, I’ll leave it at that. No special outreaches for the rest of January. Instead I’ll enjoy getting back into my regular routine of street and online outreach. Please continue to keep the Christchurch outreach team in prayer!
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 8, 2025 from 1230-1400
Today, I also started the street outreach at Sunnybank for the first time in 2025 by myself. It requires oil in my lamp by the Holy Spirit to push for the extra step in approaching the elected targets in defying timidity and helplessness in flesh.
I waited for the bus arriving in 3 minutes to come and go, thence the bus stop was left with no person except a young man sitting on the bench away from the covered area of the bus stop. So, that was the first one I was led to approach. He is Ethan , a new convert for one year and is attending SIC. I skip the gospel message first but proceed to check for his assurance of salvation which is only at 60 % level. Since he was only waiting to meet a friend here so, I had more time to clarified his incomplete understanding about salvation by grace thru faith that no one can earn by our limited good deeds but has to 100% rely on the work of Jesus dying for us and taking our place to receive the eternal death punishment of our sins. I took the chance to chip in more basic doctrinal teachings that had caught his attention and interest even after his friend had arrived. He thanked for my sharing from the bottom of his heart and joyfully took selfie with me.
Next was a non-believer from Shangdong山東, China who studied Business Management at CQU. He was on his shopping errand today but appeared comparatively open despite knowing it is about Christianity. I was able to share him the full gospel mingled with my personal testimony of God's healing my Bladder cancer. The bus came just on time when I finished the full gospel so he rush ed off for the bus though still taken a tract from me.
Then, the bus stop was left with one lady again. When I approached her, she immediately claimed I chatted with her before and she was busy in doing a lot of texting on the phone with her friends. I waited patiently but moved on after a long while that there was no sign her texting communication will cease any time soon. But I still thank for the unsuccessful encounter that at least reminded here about the need for repentant and to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life.
After another few unsuccessful approach, I was led to lock on with Ervine, a Filipino Catholic Christian who only has 50% of assurance. Again, I was given enough time to clarify the misconception with him and he felt pumped to have new motivation to follow Jesus and be transformed day by day towards perfection through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Toowong on Tuesday January 7, 2025 from 1230-1400
Today I kicked start the street outreach ministry in 2025 at Toowong in the new ministry time from 1230 to 1400. Both Johnny and Edwin were not available due to their own church ad Hoc ministry need. I just start the outreach in the New Year period ministry as usual. There were less but still reasonable people flow. I first spotted the Sri Lanka man I mistaken as local worker but actually an UQ student doing part time work at Woolly. When I tried to approach him for a follow up chat, it was interfered by a phone call. I tried to stay around for a while but did not beat the arrival of his bus. I anyway saw it as a lead for follow up approach on him in our next divine encounter. Recap below were some other chats I got:
First I was led to approach a middle aged man from Ethiopia which according to him is now a half half Christian and Muslim country. He however was not religious, but still open enough for a chat though again the time left was short. I still managed to share the nutshell of the Gospel and he was forced to wave me good bye when his bus arrived.
Next, I had a long chat with a young man from Yang Zhiu揚州, Jiangsu. He was intrigued to realize I had an adventurous visit to Jiang Jie Provinces dated back to 1973/74. He admitted even it was before the birth of his father. He appeared very polite and open for a chat even on religious issue with genuine interest. I almost finished the full gospel which he found rational and logical that as an imperfect human being, we all need external help from a perfect person. When his bus arrive, he asked politely to end the conversation or else his next bus will be 8 minutes later. So, I could not but let go and pray for future possible reunion for follow up chat.
Then, I reconnected with a guy who claimed to have a chat with one of us and most probably a lady. He showed a bit of reluctant to chat again, bit finally he let up and let me revise most of the gospel message calling for our repentant heart to accept Jesus as our Saviour to cleanse up our sin once and for all in order that we can be gifted with a renewed status of heavenly citizen. Pray that this reminder will serve the purpose of God on his life.
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Toowong on Tuesday Dec 24, 2024 from 1230-1400
Johnny decided to change the Toowong outreach time an hour earlier from 1230 to 1400. On Christmas eve, the people flow was more than normal and parking as well getting a bit more difficult. Nevertheless, Johnny and Hung still made it as the final rush outreach before Christmas Day. Obviously, both of us used the Merry Christmas gag to attract interest for a more relaxed and causal chat. People do not reject Christmas as a festivity and our aim is to drawn their attention back to Jesus as the reason for the season, and His incarnation birth has brought life transforming power to set us free from the bondage of sin and regain eternal life as well as heavenly identify as God's people/children through His sacrificial death on the cross. Recap below is the Battle log of Hung:
1) Sri Lankan in Woolworth uniform misled me as a migrated local worker, but he actually is an UQ student doing part time job. He is a Muslim but with open mind to listen to the full gospel.
2) Next was another UQ student from Indonesia also declared himself a Muslim. He typically thinks all religions are the same as long as we abided by the teaching of the religion to be a good person. So the tract and the gospel hopefully will give him a new dimension of thought about the grave impact and consequence of sin imposed on all human life disqualifying all of us to be reconnected with God unless our sin is cleansed and pardoned by Jesus.
3) Then I was led to approach a local Aussie girl who claimed to have chatted with me before. Surprisingly I could not find such battle log entry after going home, but I did not give up sharing or revising the full gospel with her again.
4) Next was a local Aussie handy man doing Christmas shopping. He was attracted to the Merry Christmas Gag and thanked for my illumination and explanation. He is non-believer but appeared receptive to the gospel message that all human though good but not perfect as such they all need salvation by Jesus as our savior and our Lord of Life.
5) Then I connected with an ABC with parents from Hong Kong and he could speak reasonably good Cantonese, and is now a High School teacher. He also is non-believer but appeared open and receptive to the gospel message.
6) Then I came across a young man from Wuhan武漢, he appeared comparatively open than most of the Maninder and was willing to chat even religious issues. He had been baptized by the saga of pandemic leading to a long complete lock down of the city as such he experienced the dark side of human sin in flesh. His heart has been softened for the gospel message.
7) Olive from a small town in the Southern part of UK and near London. He is non Christian but hold and open mind to Christianity and he felt more clear about the need for Jesus after the gospel sharing.
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Dec 11th, 2024 from 1330-1430
Despite of continuous adverse weather situation, the regular four Street Outreach gospel warrior Johnny, Ann, Edwin and Hung still turned up to exercise our due diligent to preach the gospel irrespective of external environment. But the weather did turn very rough with storm and hail looming, Johnny made the call to finish half and our earlier to let every one drive home safely. Thus with a short period, I only recorded five gospel conversations but all are long and meaningful communication as recap below:-
1) First I was led to approach a Local Aussie girl who moved her stuff to spare space welcoming me to have a chat. I started with the Merry Christmas gag that successfully drawn her attention to Jesus as the reason for the season, And that His birth brought along "Merry" an ancient English word to symbolize a kind of power that are capable to transform our life setting free from the bondage of sin. She is not religious, but it was a more lively way to challenge her to face the real meaning of Christmas.
2) Then I was attracted to a mother with her grown up daughter that first was approached by Edwin. He was misled by them that they are readily church going Christian thus no need for the gospel. I was moved anyway to take up from there to test their assurance of salvation. But I was surprised to find out that they are non-believers and at best be called seekers. So I anyway share the mum full gospel with the daughter not paying full attention by her side.
3) Next I was led to approach an Indian middle age man who migrated to Australia at early childhood age. He was friendly and found the real meaning of "merry Christmas" interesting. He is non Christian, but are familiar with some of the Christmas related facts. So he appeared completely open and receptive to the gospel building on the new understanding of Merry being power brought by Jesus' birth.
4) Then I had a long chat with a Catholic background Filipino. He typically have no assurance of salvation but as low as only a mere 20% level. But after clarification, he happily acknowledge he should have 100% assurance that because of Jesus' sacrificial death he readily has received the free gift of eternally life from Jesus and on this basis, God is determined to further transform his life back to 100% purity. He joyously took a selfie with me.
5) Then we encountered a PNG family of 3 with Mum and 1 grown up son and a younger sister. Johnny approached the adult son first and passed him all the gospel tract. I was moved to take on to check his assurance of salvation which is correctly 100% but he failed to account for the reason why. Anyway, God moved me to share a long time with him enriching and deepening his understand of the Bible about Jesus, His earthly ministry and His mission to kick off the long planned Dual Kingdom & Salvation Project as per Gen3:15b. He also merrily took a selfie with me.
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Toowong on Tuesday Dec 17, 2024 from 1330-1430
There was intermittent isolated heavy rain in Toowong area, it nevertheless posted no hindrance for Johnny and Hung to serve Street Outreach ministry as usual. The power of witness apart from the output of gospel sharing to non-believing people of all Nations was demonstrated. After sharing full gospel to a Malaysian Chinese with fruit bearing result, I was greeted by a Catholic Christian lady with a big smile. We met each other at this bus stop possibly 2 to 3 years ago, she is a serious Catholic follower who tried to debate with us on theology to prove that Catholic faith is orthodox when we challenged her that they do not have pure faith in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus alone and they tend to elevate Mary to a status equal to God. She wrote me long notes and even resorted to refer me to talk to her Church Father which I never have chance to do it but instead consulted many of my personal friend of Catholic background. So, our relationship becomes stranded because of all these differences as such she chooses to avoid or ignore me at the bus stop. But today, here attitude has made a 360 degree changes. She approach me to greet me with a broad smile and compliment me as a good person (in the sense of a good servant). I guess she might have watched and overheard my chat with Edwin the Malaysian and agree with my view of all the gospel sharing messages. So witness is also a form of Behavioral Art, your actions speak louder than words especially we are doing it in His strength. Recap below is the battle log of Hung for today.
1) Edwin, a UQ student from Sarawak, Malaysia. He is non-religious though from a Buddhist family, but he had Christiaan friend and has followed them to church. Thus God may have softened his heart and he also has mastered certain basic bible story teaching as such he appeared 100% open and receptive to the gospel and promise he will take it seriously to pursue to make the last step of faith accepting Jesus as his savior. I also referred him to get in touch with Power To Change for any further questions about the Christian faith.
2) Catholic lady brief encounter serving me like a cup of caffe experience the power of witness for Christ as described above.
3) An Indian parent of Sikh background come visiting daughter studying in UQ, the father could speak limited English, but I try to build rapport by telling him the early days policeman in HKG 80- 100 years ago are mainly by the people of Sikh with their head wrapped up with clothes, And parents used to scare their kids by threatening them to be obedience otherwise the Sikh Policeman will come to grab them for locking up. The bus came and our friendly conversation ended and i still managed to handed him a tract and pray that God will do His job.
4)Next I approached an elderly Local Aussie. I was inspired to use the Fair dinkum and Merry Christmas gag to introduce the gospel message. He was impressed I knew so much about Australian slang and culture as well as UK ancient English. It proved that his interest in gospel was low but the rapport I built with him through these two ice breaking measure earned me a bit more patience to finish the nutshell of Gospel to him.
5) Then I caught up with a Chinese looking Singaporean yet I had only barely enough time to start the gospel without finishing because of the quick arrival of bus. Any way, I still managed to pass him a gospel tract,
6) Last but not the least, I had a good chat with a Mainlander girl who was semi open for gospel message and happily took a tract to read afterwards.
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Dec 11th, 2024 from 1330-1430
Johnny could not come to day but God reinforced the Street outreach squad. first with Edwin who is generally free now after the Bible college academic year is over, then join by Ann, who could come normally after the zoom prayer meeting is shifted to 3pm. Finally, Sunny Deng and her husband Ben visiting Brisbane for the first time joined us towards the end and concluding our ministry in prayer for each others. As usual, Edwin is a quick action person, getting connected with almost every one gathering at or near the bus stop without fail. In contrast, Ann sticked to have a long conversation with a Chinese lady possibly on many deep topic about faith. I had many contact to day though most are scattered and short one with three stand out divine encounter as recap below.
1) Eddie a Filipino of Catholic background, firmly answered my first question about his assurance of salvation as 100%, which is good and correct depending on his answer to my 2nd question why? Then he started to give general and empty answer like he has spent much time to learn about the Bible, then I asked what did he learn to give him 100% certainty, and he answered the learning about God. When I asked further what specific thing did he learnt about God that has given him 100% assurance of salvation then he got stuck there not knowing what to answer. I ended up sharing the gospel with him pointing out that it was only because of Jesus redemptive atoning death on our behalf and taking our place to receive the punishment of sin that we are pardoned and our record of sin is set to zero the moment we accept Jesus as Savior and our Lord of Life. Eddie was humble and sincerely thankful for the clarification. Seemingly Catholic teaching on the doctrine that we are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus is in general not strong and clear enough, diverting their attention to non-essential things.
2) Next significant chat was with a Pakistan woman who sat down next to me and was busy in searching info on the iPhone which route is good for her to go to "Westfield" I pointed out to her "Westfield" is just the name of a commercial group having bought up all major big malls in Australia, as such searching by "Westfield" will lead to nothing. Rather Garden city is the key for her to locate the correct bus route. Actually she has migrated to Australia for already four years but still not very familiar with places and facilities around. After that, she was happy to keep our conversation on. Despite she seemingly is of Muslim background, but she appeared quite open for listening to the gospel and felt no resentment when the name of Jesus was mentioned. At the end, she happily took a tract to read and hopefully ,God will have further soil softening work with her.
3) Another case was an Australian born Chinese with parents from Hong Kong and Malaysia. He claimed he had got our tract before and I followed up on his degree of understanding which had been a bit of challenging task as his thought as well as physical motion was hopping around and unsettled. His behavior showing a bit of Impatience but still responding intermittently to my questions for checking his understanding of the gospel. Finally he acknowledged that every one though good but not perfect all needs help from a perfect person and God as our Savior and Jesus is the one and only one. I could only entrusted hi to God to guide his way toward ultimate deliverance
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Toowong on Tuesday Dec 10, 2024 from 1330-1430
It was day of worst rainy weather for street outreach, but Johnny and Hung still turned up as normal to deliver our committed gospel ministry under extremely harsh condition. Hung used to have a private deal with the Father that God will withhold rain when Hung is in ministry with God. This promise has never been broken even once. Time and again, Hung can serve with a dry period of time with rain falling down before and right after the ministry time. But today, God seemingly broke this mutual understanding allowing rain falling non stop during the whole street outreach time. See what!? In retrospect, God created a condition for me to demonstrate the real ancient meaning of "Merry" .
Every year, when Christmas is near, I uses to ask people while doing street outreach why Christmas only is greeted with Merry Christmas and not Happy. Because "Merry " is an old English word bearing a totally different meaning as similar to happiness. Its origin can be traced back to a very old English Carols with the first verse as follows:
"God rest you merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay.
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this Day.
To save poor souls from Satan's power,
Which long time had gone astray.
Which brings tidings of comfort and joy."
Notice the punctuation coma is before gentlemen, so merry is not used as an adjective for gentleman, but as a noun representing something with power that God ensure to give to us as a free gift being brought by the birth of Jesus Christ incarnating as our Saviour"
The historic meaning of the phrase "God rest you merry" is 'may God grant you peace and joy';
I illustrated this to the gospel targets, that "happiness" is something conditional to the environment. I feel happy for some materialistic thing I received but "Merry" or joy is some valuable substance that we have possessed in our heart that will keep us positive irrespective of circumstance. For instance , under heavy rain, I will not be happy to come out to chat with people. But with "merry" or power of joy and a transformed born again life with inner peace, I will still defy the harsh environment and find meaning with motivation to keep doing gospel outreach in whatever circumstances.
Hurrah, all except one who were willing to connect with me all found great enlightenment by the old meaning of "merry" which has led them to a more literal perception of blessing and gift of eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior"
So God is sovereign and "God can make all things work together for the goodness sake of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"
Recap is the brief battle log of Hung: -
1) With only 1 minute left , I greeted someone Merry Christmas and asked if he knew why Christmas alone use Merry while all others use Happy. Just barely gave him the answer and the tract as a good approach to kick off a gospel conversation.
2) Rejected by one guy who refused to stop listening to his own music.
3) Then I was led to approach Willy from Ecuador, who appeared having a heavy heart not keen to listen the gospel though I still shared him the core message.
4) A girl by the name Lee from HKG to Australia for 4 years already, is non religious, but rapport quickly built because of our Hong Konger identity .
5) Then I approached Ahmed an Indian using the Merry Christmas gag and fair dinkum slang to successfully bring Jesus through the word Merry into his heart.
6) Then another Merry Christmas gag to an English lady who did not understand the Merry gag but claiming that English is silly. But after she learnt all about the real ancient meaning of Merry, she turned fully amazed and laugh her way to get on the bus.
7) Noah another local Aussie young chap also found the real meaning "Merry: intriguing and vowed to think deep to cash in "Merry" into his heart and life especially he has been given a biblical names.
Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Dec 4th, 2024 from 1330-1430
Praised be to God there were four Gospel warriors turning up for the Sunnybank Outreach today on Dec 4th including Johnny, Edwin, Ann and Hung. We were led by the Spirit to approach those elected by God to have a chat with various results but above all we were humble to be an unmerited vessel of God to spread the good news to people of different cultures and different faiths.
When I wrote my last report (a month ago), we were a few days into a week of outreach with Phil and his church in Whangārei. So, this report will cover the rest of that outreach, plus everything we’ve been doing since then. This includes the big Canterbury A&P Show outreach, plus the regular street and online outreach we have been doing.
I’ve just finished going through the photos I’ve taken for the last month. I’m going to let them do most of the talking for this report. They bring back very good memories for me.
Going back to the outreach in Whangārei. It was a wonderful week of outreach! The highlight for me would be a conversation I had with an older gentleman. I encountered him twice - on different days. I first talked to him on Saturday, across the road from the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCoG, a cult) Zion (meeting place). He had become a member of this cult, and so in his conversation he was vehemently defending their doctrines. I decided not to take a direct stand against this, but instead took the tactic of side stepping his emotional attacks and politely asking questions and responding in such a way that the important issues would be touched on: the law and the gospel. After a robust conversation, we parted ways on good terms.
Well, a few days later, I saw him again, in a different part of town. I approached him with a friendly greeting, and was able to sit down to start another conversation. Glory to God, he had obviously considered some of the things I said, and he was in a much better position to reason with. He opened up about wanting to become a JW. But when he had asked to be baptised, they resisted. And so, when the WMSCoG came to his door and offered to baptise him on the spot he was elated! And so, I was able to spend a lot more time with him labouring on the law and the true Gospel of Jesus’ mercy (and not working for salvation). I remember it still being a difficult conversation, but the gospel is simple, and it is the power of God for salvation.
Not only did we do outreach in the town centre, but we also spent a day up at Kamo and the last day of the outreach included a bit of a road trip: we spent some time in outreach at Kerikeri & Paihia before heading back to Whangārei to catch our flight home. So many wonderful conversations from that week are passing through my mind, but I don’t have the time to write about them. Thanks so much to Phil and Emma for hosting us (Roger, Andy and myself), and for Maungakaramea Reformed Church and Clark Road Chapel for allowing us to serve alongside you for the week. It was so encouraging having so many members coming out to be involved with us.
The next big outreach, starting only a week after we got back from Whangārei was the Canterbury A&P Show. A 3 day event for the farming community with many stalls and entertainment. The weather was mixed - on the last day we had to suffer some interrupting rain. But generally, the outreach was a massive success. We ended up having just the right amount of labourers for each part of the outreach - so God answered that prayer! He also answered a prayer in regards to some loud music from the first day - it didn’t end up being an issue for the following days - glory to God!
The 2nd day of the outreach was the busiest. I ended up going till 2 pm without a break. We have 5 flip charts running, and there were times where they were all busy, and we even had people queuing to come and try it out!
My four prayers were: God would be glorified, favour with authorities, Christians would be encouraged, and the lost would hear the gospel. I feel like those prayers were well and truly answered! I esp. enjoyed having many conversations with Christians. One of them even joined Andy and I on the streets a week later (pictured). God is so good.
We are still active in Christchurch city and in the Riccarton area. Cashel Mall is now ramping up for Christmas, and so I’ve cracked out the Christmas gospel tracts. I’m handing them out with a cherry “Merry Christmas!” and any who stop I ask: “what do you think Christmas’ greatest gift is?” and then get into a gospel conversation from there.
On the Tuesday just gone, Roger and I tried a new spot for outreach in Riccarton. We moved up a block to be closer to the bus exchange. It worked well. We had a very busy outreach, that even went a bit longer than usual.
Please keep the Christchurch Operation 513 outreach team in prayer. For the upcoming month it will be mainly regular outreach, with the only planned special outreach being a gospel tract give-away on Boxing Day - the streets are flooded with bargain hunters - pray that they get a bargain they didn’t expect! Thanks so much.
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